Registration for the Chestermere Public Library’s Spring Reading Program is now open to all Chestermere and area residents.
On average, between 700 to 1000 people register for the Spring Reading Program each year.
“The Spring Reading Program keeps the community engaged, it keeps the kids engaged, and it keeps the kids interested in reading,” said the Chestermere Public Library’s Acting Director Cathy Burness.
“The Spring Reading Program does promote a love of reading, and helps them connect reading with something positive,” Burness added.
In the past years, the Spring Reading Program would incorporate a variety of activities such as a scavenger hunt, arts and crafts, and a stuffed animal sleepover, while participants tracked their reading time.
“We’re making sure that everything that we can possibly bring to it is done virtually,” Burness said.
Now, participants can register for the Spring Reading Program online, track their reading time online, see what prizes are available, and enter to win the prize baskets online.
All ages are encouraged to participate, while parents and caregivers can log the minutes they read to children.
This year, the team at the Chestermere Public Library was inspired to make the theme of the Spring Reading Program Community Helpers.
“We had wanted to do something along those lines anyway, it just really seemed like the right thing to do this year,” Burness said.
“Community helpers being everyone from first-line doctors, nurses, emergency services, to the people stocking the shelves at the grocery store, truck drivers bringing the goods to the stores, cleaners, just everybody pitching in and doing their part,” she added. “We wanted to recognize that, and we want the kids to recognize that.”
Readers are encouraged to read anything they have at home or use the eResources available on the Chestermere Public Library website.
“We have loads and loads of eResources for eBooks, the children can listen and read along to TumbleBooks, and people can use the eResources to get any kind of reading material,” Burness said.
In response to COVID-19, the Chestermere Public Library has increased the amount of reading material usually available.
“We’ve added all kinds of resources so people have more reading material than they would normally have had,” Burness added. “We’ve been purchasing additional eBooks, so it makes all of this a little bit easier on everybody.”
To register for the Spring Reading Program, or to view the various eResources available please visit the Chestermere Public Library website at https://www.chestermerepubliclibrary.com/Programs-Events/SpringReadingProgram.
